TOURISM SEASON-MESSY ROADS & ANTI-GOAN HOTELS.

IS THE COASTAL BELT OF GOA GEARED UP TO COPE UP WITH THE COMING TOURIST SEASON?

Definitely not, at least Candolim where you find a mess on the road without proper personnel manning the road to control the excess flow of traffic especially at the crucial places and not erecting Speed Breakers at the very important busy spots mainly  at the Tinto Junction and in front of the Primary School near Panchayat Ghar.   No doubt the local MLA Michael Lobo is doing a good job of widening the roads yet there are lot of hurdles on the road due to rough and immense traffic flow by the irresponsible Indian tourists who ignore the road safety rules. Most of the injuries happen to the Two Wheelers not because of the non-wearing of Helmets but because of the bad roads.  Even in Sinquerim on way to the Light House in front of Vijay Malaya’s private Jetty the concerned authority erected the Speed Breaker to please Malaya but failed to erect the same at the required places.   

The vehicles parked on the main road for the  guests of Hotel “Grand Mercure, Goa Shrem Resort” in Pintos Vaddo Candolim, opposite to the Asilo and next to the well-known miraculous Holy MAND were  till yesterday a hindrance to the smooth traffic flow on the main road. These cars belonged to the locals and being so they should have been given preferential treatment by the Hotel management by also accommodating them along with that of the Hotel’s cars where especial place is provided in front of the Hotel. Or it was the duty of the local Panchayat to provide a suitable place for parking these cars to avoid  hindrance to the smooth flow of the traffic on the main road.

As per the available information, one portion of the property where this Hotel is built was originally the property of Candolim Communidade.  But I am not aware that this part was sold by the Communiidade and neither I am aware that Candolim Communidade is selling its land. Now, the question is: How did this land reach into Hotel’s hand?  Will the Communidade answer  this question?

This Hotel is a big inconvenience to the Holy MANDD located since a century back, next to the Hotel.  Also its loud music is creating disturbance not only to the neighbours but also to the surrounding areas.  Secondly the Hotelier must know the piercing power of the Mandd and its Miraculous Cross.  According to the tradition if any inconvenience is done to this Holy Mandd’s sanctity or any sinful and vulgar acts are performed in its vicinity, the Mandd maintaining its ruthless tradition liquidates not only the persons responsible but also the venue where the sinful and vulgar acts are committed.  If the Hotel is going against the sacred tradition of the Mandd then it surely is going to face its doom with the effect of the mighty Sunami created by the mighty traditional power of the Mandd.  Even those who are involved in assisting the wrong doer directly or indirectly will not be spared of the Mandd’s punishment.  This is as per the tradition and history of the Mandd.  And as we know, history repeats itself and surely it will. Time alone will justify this statement.

It is nice to know that big chain of Hotels is investing heavily in Goa that creates job opportunities to the locals.  As per my information this same Hotelier earlier has also constructed one more Hotel in Candolim and in that Hotel locals were hired but within a few months most of them were retrenched.  Now, my question to the local Panchayat is this:  Did it not put the condition to the Hotelier at the time of issuing license to employ more locals in that Hotel? By replacing the locals with outsiders the Hoteliers are upsetting the demographic structure of Goa in favour of outsiders. This anti-Goan trend must come to an end and every local must raise his voice against this anti-Goan trend.

Finally, is this the same Hotelier constructing one more Hotel in Candolim in  CRZ belt?  If yes, which authority gave license for constructing this Hotel in CRZ belt? The local MLA Michael Lobo must immediately investigate this incident if he is interested in the wellbeing of Goa.  I also request the concerned NGO’s to look into this matter without any further delay.

A.     Veronica Fernandes,

Candolim,

Goa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

HOTEL GOAN HERITAGE - AGM.

By Special Correspondent.

On 27^th of this month, the AGM of Gulf Goans Hotels Company (Hotel Goan Heritage – Calangute) is scheduled at Hotel Mandovi, Panjim.  This company and its Hotel Goan Heritage is the brainchild of Kuwait Goans and it contained the blood and sweat of Kuwait Goans. 

However, some people are trying to misuse the facilities offered to them by the company thereby trying to take personal advantage of the company for them by infiltrating into the Company Board when they don’t deserve a place into the Board.  They don’t deserve a place into the Board because they are corrupt. 

For example, two of the contestants for the coming Board election are Wilson Edmundo Rodrigues and Ramakant Loximan Verlekar. According to the available information both were considered as corrupt and as such they were thrown out from the Board in the last AGM.  Mr. Rodrigues was deeply tainted in corruption when he was a leading man in duping the Kuwait Goan Evacuees Society in the aftermath of the invasion and liberation of Kuwait. He was one of the persons responsible as a member of KGES to collect funds from Kuwait Goan Evacuees.  Up to now there is no accountability of this fund which according to one source was in lakhs of Rupees. Can any sensible shareholder rely on this corrupt man to do good for the Hotel Company?

The second man of questionable character is Verlekar who according to the available information was responsible to broker the deal to purchase the Orchard land at Dhargal possibly with the intention to corner a huge commission for him thru this deal.  Purchasing of Orchard land is like dead investment which means a big loss for th company ultimately a great loss for the Shareholders.  In this scam according to inside source he was ably supported by Mr. Rodrigues. 

Hence, both Rodrigues and Verlekar should not be voted into the Board.  Those Shareholders who submitted their proxies – votes – for these two persons must now review their decision and withdraw their proxies and instead support Mr. Ferdinand and Mr. Tiburcio (Jerry Cal) whose records are clean and both are beneficial for the development of the Hotel, both being uncorrupt.

Those who wish to support Rodrigues and Verlekar are going to make a big mistake because by doing so they will destroy their own Company.  The affairs of the company will never be in the safer hands if these two corrupt shareholders are elected in the Board.  All the Shareholders must take note of this caution especially Kuwait based Sam Alphonso who has highest stake. If he is really interested in the development and protection of this company, Mr. Alphonsoo will act rightly by giving his proxy to the uncorrupt candidate otherwise he will be treated as the promoter of corrupt candidates for the destruction of this company built by true and genuine Goans.            

HOTEL GOAN HERITAGE & CROOK IN THE BOARD.

By Special Correspondent.

What for the cause of Goa the Goans from Kuwait have done, none other expatriate Goans have done.  Two big experiments Kuwait Goans have performed, one in support and promotion of Konkani mainly thru the establishment of “NOVEM GOEM DAILY” movement and the other thru business venture by erecting  “HOTEL  GOAN  HERITAGE” at Calangute.  One experiment of Novem Goem has failed not because of the fault of Kuwait Goans inspite of giving  a huge donation for this project in lakhs of rupees in late seventies and early eighties but it failed because of the irresponsibility of the members of Novem Goem committee comprising learned Goans such as Doctors, Lawyers, Journalist and Social activists.  The management of Novem Goem with  excess of  money at their disposal beyond their requirement, sent as donation by Kuwait Goans not only failed this project but they have also failed the Kuwait Goans and other donors as well.

The second experiment is the huge Hotel Goan Heritage project which is in existence and functioning almost since last three decades.  It looks shaky now in the hands of board of directors comprising some impotent directors including corrupt ones.  Vincente D’Souza then a highly dynamic and a prominent Goan working at Kuwait Customs was the initiator and the founder of Gulf Goans Hotels Company that built the Hotel Goan Heritage at Calangute.  Flav  Pimenta was the first Chairman of this company who left Kuwait by leaving his very lucrative job in the Oil company in Kuwait to take care of this company and in fact he did so till his retirement. Because of his sincerity, knowhow and dedication with hard work the Hotel came up.  He was supported well from Kuwait by the entire board based in Kuwait including the Managing director Mr. Vincente D’Souza.  

The early Board based in Kuwait was very sincere and dedicated to the development of the company.  The board members worked tirelessly even by spending money from their own pockets to develop this project. They worked sincerely because everyone had a genuine interest and a high stake as directors in the company, none had peanuts as his stake. Because they had high stake they worked responsibly, some of them not even taking any personal benefit for them, on the contrary they made lot of sacrifices for the sake of this Hotel.  Service to the company was their goal. Their main motto was the unity of the board and collective responsibility. But now the situation is totally different and the board is a devided lot. There are factions now in the board, one of which is allegedly working under the direction of Alex Wilson Coelho who is based in Canada but was involved when in Kuwait in scandals and corruption.  It looks he doesn’t like upright persons in the board for this reason he is as informed, from behind the curtain implanting his own tainted candidates against good and productive sitting directors in the forthcoming board election scheduled on 27^th of this month.

Hotel Goan Heritage is the baby of the share holders around one hundred who originally came forward to form this company to erect this edifice of Hotel Goan Heritage. It is a symbol of expatriate Goan entrepreneurship.  These shareholders were all based in Kuwait though many of them are now permanently settled in Goa and in the West. All these shareholders have great responsibility to save this project from going into the hands of rogues supported by Coelho who otherwise as a resident of foreign country has got no right to be in the board because by being abroad he cannot contribute in anything for the development of the project.  So too the other two board members based in Kuwait.  For this reason since last 25 years there is not much development.

It is a pity that all the three board members stationed outside Goa are not showing any concern for the company.  If they had any concern they would voluntarily abdicate their chairs in the board and allow somebody more productive from Goa to replace them. Theirs is the attitude of the shameless Goans who are crazy after power and honour just like our cheap politicians.  Ultimately what great one can expect from the persons coming from the “hoi polloi”  background and intellectually backward tribe?  Their association in the board is detrimental to the development of the Hotel Company because they are useless in the board.

As given to understand, two of the persons contesting the forthcoming election allegedly backed by the Coelho panel are Wilson Rodrigues and Verlekar who earlier were both thrown out by the AGM for not being upright in their dealings as directors. Since their antecedents were bad and yet they are contesting again that means they have their eyes on something else which they can acquire for themselves only by entering into the board because the board is become very lucrative for some to gain financial benefits and cheap prominence.  Hence, the Shareholders must make a point not to elect such defective candidates and instead elect the good, efficient and productive sitting directors one of them is Filipe Ferdinand the second highest stake holder and the other Chef Jerry Cal who is the greatest asset to the Hotel as he is the only director having vast knowledge of Hotel line.

There is a sizeable number of shareholders settled outside Goa, some of them are in the West  while a few of them in Kuwait.  When they send their proxies they must make sure that their votes do not go to the corrupt and to the rogues who are all out to devour for themselves the financial benefits meant for the shareholders.  One of the perfect examples of the loot was the purchase of Dhargal property with the initiative of Coelho, Verlekar and Rodrigues. This property falls into the Orchard land category which means useless for development.